Interactive Advertising Bureau Releases Native Advertising Playbook to Establish Common Industry Lexicon, Evaluation Framework & Disclosure Principles

Native has become a hot topic in the advertising marketplace, but for the practice to flourish further, it needs consensus on definitions and structure. In response, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and its Native Advertising Task Force has released the “IAB Native Advertising Playbook” to serve as a consistent framework for the discussion surrounding native advertising, identifying it as both an aspiration to seamlessly integrate brand messaging into consumers’ content experiences, as well as a practical suite of ad products that successfully meet that objective.

In addition to the task force, senior-level buy-side executives were tapped for their expert counsel on what advertisers need to consider before they add native elements into their digital marketing mix. The IAB Public Policy Council was also consulted for the playbook’s recommendations on sponsorship disclosures. The playbook highlights six core interactive ad formats that are currently being used within the native advertising landscape:

• In-feed units
• Paid search units
• Recommendation widgets
• Promoted listings
• IAB standard ads with “native” element units
• Custom